AGNI Online

from The World Book (Volume T, pg. 7974)

On this page, a boy skates. See blades,see ice. See his leg trembles. He will fall—the future. On the river bank, another boywaits—the present. I’m learningSpanish—progressive—and failing.

No comprendo. Of the numbers, I remember one,of course, and eight. If asked, my phone:ocho-ocho-ocho, ocho-ocho-ocho-uno. I say, Yo soy Grégoriobut I am not Gregory. This boy on skates

se llama Grégorio. Greg tiene eight.Grégorio has ocho años, possessesthe number of times the river has frozen.¿Qué hora es? Upside-down questionmarks, for me, me gusta, this announcement

of inquiry. The time, las ocho minus uno—below the equator, it’s summer. Simplefuturity: it will be—; I shall—. Futility,hopeless labor of so many tenses, tests,the stone rolls back down—determination,

tensile stress (see: STRENGTH OF MATERIALS)leads only to expansion. Vocabulary,a simple tent resembles the letter A—primitive dwelling of new words—verbs like ropes, structural members in a particular tense,

say past. Tenochtitlán (see: SPANISH CONQUEST). I no longer say eggs for Thursday.A small victory, the distance betweenwhy and because: por qué to porque—nearly the range of a tenor, two

full octaves from C to C.Si, conquistadors of figure ochos. Figure in a few blunders. Like a tenpinthe boy falls. The other boy laughs.Always pitch your tent on high ground